Testing is typically an important part of the lifecycle of software. This is especially true for software systems of business organizations, where events such as installation of new software modules, updating a module, and/or customizing a module, may require running many tests in order to verify that after the software systems still operate as expected. Often test scenarios are created manually via trial and error through an iterative process, which requires much effort.
Since many organizations utilize same or similar software modules (e.g., modules belonging to standard software packages), they often end up running similar tests. Thus, tests devised and/or used by different organizations to test a certain software module, business process, and/or transaction, may be useful for another organization faced with a similar testing task. However, since testing software systems belonging to an organization often involves accessing proprietary data and/or trade secrets of the organization, there is tendency not to share this information. This is unfortunate, since were organizations able to utilize each other's testing-related knowledge, which is in a sense a wisdom of the crowd (of testers), they might be able to come up with a more effective and efficient testing plan.
One problem that may affect sharing of tests among organizations is the fact that test created for one organization may contain test steps that are irrelevant for other organizations. This may happen due to the nature of the test creation process, which is often manual and thus may introduce errors or inefficiencies. Additionally, many portions of a test may concern organization-specific aspects, which are not relevant for other organizations.
Thus, tests run by many organizations may be both numerous and diverse with respect to the test steps they include. However, not all of these tests are equal; some tests may include more test steps that contribute directly to testing tasks relevant for many organizations, while others may contain test steps that are primarily organization specific.